Conventionally, networks controlled by various protocols such as Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN), Virtual Private Network (VPN), and Label Switched Path (LSP) have been used. For example, the headquarters of a company A and the branch offices of the company A are connected via a VLAN, a VPN, and an LSP. In this manner, corporate networks each involving two or more networks controlled by different protocols are used.
Meanwhile, managers perform provisioning, which is the config settings control for updating software and changing, adding, or deleting network configuration information, on network devices such as routers and switches used in respective networks. An example case where provisioning is performed on a network including a VLAN network NW1, a VPN network NW2, and an LSP network NW3 is now described.
This network includes a network management device that is connected to a manager terminal operated by a manager or the like and the network devices of the respective networks. The network management device includes a VLAN information DB, a VPN information DB, and an LSP information DB. The VLAN information DB stores VLAN information that is set in the respective devices in the network NW1, the VPN information DB stores VPN information that is set in the respective devices in the network NW2, and the LSP information DB stores LSP information that is set in the respective devices in the network NW3.
Upon receipt of VLAN change information that indicates a change to the settings in the VLAN from the manager or the like, the manager terminal transmits a provisioning request containing the VLAN change information to the network management device. The network management device then refers to the VLAN information DB to identify the network device of the network NW1 to be subjected to a VLAN change. The network management device issues a VLAN setting command to the identified network device, and changes the settings.
Likewise, upon receipt of VPN change information that indicates a change to the settings in the VPN from the manager or the like, the manager terminal transmits a provisioning request containing the VPN change information to the network management device. The network management device then refers to the VPN information DB to identify the network device of the network NW2 to be subjected to a VPN change. The network management device issues a VPN setting command to the identified network device, and changes the settings.
Likewise, upon receipt of LSP change information that indicates a change to the settings in the LSP from the manager or the like, the manager terminal transmits a provisioning request containing the LSP change information to the network management device. The network management device then refers to the LSP information DB to identify the network device of the network NW3 to be subjected to an LSP change. The network management device issues an LSP setting command to the identified network device, and changes the settings.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-25159
By the conventional technique, however, provisioning for combining different protocols may not be automatically performed.
In the above described example having networks controlled by different protocols, the network management device manages and stores the VLAN information about the network NW1, the VPN information about the network NW2, and the LSP information about the network NW3, independently of one another. That is, the network management device manages the network configuration information for each protocol. When it receives a provisioning request for a combination of the network NW1 and the network NW2, the network management device may not automatically identify and control subject nodes, and may not determine which information of the VLAN information and which information of the VPN information may be combined.
Therefore, after performing provisioning on each protocol with the use of the network management device, the manager or the like needs to manually input a command for provisioning for combining protocols to the network management device and network devices to be combined.